St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1887-02-03
a PERNICIoUs SCHOOL SYSTEM.
A Warning from Prominent Source.
Boston Globe.

DIR. Hammond of New York, who is
wisely endeavOring to simplify the
school system there, reiterates the
opinion so frequently set forth con
corning the er-study and over crowd
ing of children in public schools. The
tendency in all departments of mental
labor is to exhaust the brain capital
too rapi,llV. This is not the utterauce
of a radical, not the outcome. of zeal,
without knowledge, but the calm, de-
liberate conviction of practical ply
stefan whose large experience renders
him an authority i'm such matters.
DIR. Hammond utters alOud the
thought of many parents and teachers
who are too broad to bind themselves
to- systems or methods because such
methods chance to be popular.
Instances are not wanting where
children have suffered from over work
and the unreasonable custom of giving
out home lessons. The child's best
hours, nearly all its waking hours Ger
tainly, are spent in the school room,
and the others not devoted to sleep
should be given to recreation. The
mere growing physically is IA severe
strain, and an Old-time physician was
not far from the truth when he said
"that the great bulk of children had
all they could do to grow, without du-
ties being imposed upon them until
their heads ached, their limbs were
-cF1einped and their nerves OvertaXed."
Only a few weeks since a proud BOs-
ton mother told in Il triumphant man
ner of her sons engagements, a boy of
IA. He was attending n school where
hard study is Imperative, he was TAX
Oft
ing dancing class, took part in plays
and 'musicales, kept up his music un
der n master twice during the week,
and went to parties occasionally.
Thus by her own confession this
mother proved that her boy was Occu-
pied or driven at high pressure from
one weeks end to the beginning of the
next. He was breathing constantly
the exhausted air of crowded rooms,
and, as DIR. Hammond remarks, "using
up his brain capital faster than its re-
ceipts." And this mother was content
to have it so, and repeatedly said: at
does not seem to hurt him, he is so
smart" Nature uses all her forces ac-
cOrding to rule. She never blunders,
never trips. When the Overtaxed boy |
reaches manhood he will suddenly
break down, and the cause will be at
tributed To some special pressure,
while its real seat of disturbance was
-ssEiid IN childhood.
alt is very strange that NJ. should |
become insane" says one: ''there is
no tendency that way on either side of
the families" No, there is first time, |
and Ms piJiful condition is told briefs
ly. He entered the public schools at
an early age, lie was ambitious and his
parents assisted him at home he sur
passed his classmates, and delighted |
his friends; in short, he was number |
one. When he needed air he was at
his books, when he required recreation |
he was shut up within four walls to
cram his brain with the stories of bar
barOus men in barbaTOus days, and !
meaningless dates of events, much bet
ter forgotten than remembered. His
abnormal appetite caused by natures
demand to keep up the steam in this
complex human engine was considered
as an evidence of vigorous health. In |
college he kept up his record, and then !
began his life work only to break
down at 30 and be confined in Il mad
house. The case is not imaginary.
Hundreds are doing just this every
year, and still we go on applauding
the children who are ambitious and
urging them on by the frequent appli-
cation of our Yankee gOad $50 smart"
1t is quite time to bring common
sense to bear upon this question ; quite
in order to say to superiOrs and in
structors ''thus far shalt thou come
and no farther" while we carefully re-
member that teachers are in no sense
responsible for the defects of a system
under which they labor. Brain CAPT !
tai has never been fully appreciated in
the worlds market, and now is the APP
pointed time for its respectful cOnsid-
GRAFTON.